GERMAN OPINION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12243, 17 June 1909, Page 4

GERMAN OPINION.

Ok tne three- articles ' in; the currenv number of the "Nineteenth^Century" on the present state of %he relations between Great Britain aritl Germany, that of Mr E. 6. Neill, "in which hej give us the. opinions. o'fVsix well-informed i but independent publicists';'oil the subject, which he has collected by ■mean?.' T tQeorniany,; is T' the. mds^pportune^ tin& instructive, be;ca^.js^- lit iiKiicuies'; that these opinions u^t^riowsly^lndicato ■Jtlie;iirpossi!;i!'ty of. f^ t^lderstaiidy.g beirjrr arrivefl.at between 'the two Powers for tho limitfu tion -'of.,their...respective navies. ReiirAdiriiral -'WeW- declare ">imt if Germany wer<3 to agree to iliri.A thing of ihe kind, it would be tantamount to stamping herself as a second-rate .-Power:'' Count Ernest de Reventlpw, a retired naval officer, declares such-a h idea to be impractical and undignified for Gernumy, and incidentally . mentions his firm; conviction that "Tariff RefoWiwillV shortly be carried into effect/. "owing; to thj necessity'of*bringing abbu%Van'"imnerstnndiiig between Great Britaiii' and her Qolonies.'' i)r. Otto Arndt contends -that. Germany is not building against England, but against the whole world; he characterises the "invasion spectra" as idiotic, and asserts that Germany "could not dream of-seizing'-either Australia or South Africa, to say nothing °f Canada.;' -Professor Samassa, one .of the most ardent propagandists of the Pau-(jJerman ..League, does not believe at.. all! in. :the possibility of an Anglo- • German 'ifa^'because England could never jsuljjugfite Germany, while Ger.•.nsijpy 'h^iW^hjiig .to gain from a war with Englsytdjifj'Captaiii. yon Purtan, a naval writer of considerable prominence, declares that such is the feeling of com.radeship which exists between the officers of the two navies, that, if th© question of peace of war were left to

the admirals of the two fleets, the problem would be soon solved in favour of amity. Herr Legationrath yon Refh, retired diplomatist, urges that Germany was bound to increase her fleet in order to secure her the right of being treated

on a footing of equality. "That necessity, together with tlie extension of her trade and commerce, was the cause and justification of her naval development." In his opinion, the only solution of the

• unities which have arisen between the two nations is "an Anglo-German political understanding, on the broadest basis, covering European as well as colonial interests."